Distant Worlds: Shadows

[Modest]

All that has been posted and said looks great Especially planetary invasions looks promissing now And mostly for me the landing part (G.H. Wells "War of the Worlds" and "missile landing" comes alive in my memories). And idea to be able to shoot landing troops down before they will land sounds great for me But I have seen (or to be more precise, I have not seen) one thing. There is minimum troops on a planet regardles of how big is a colony. But there is no max troops for colony, and I have hoped to have thing like it, more than minimum number. So... I have two questions about it:
1. Is it going to be implemented?
2. If answer on first question is negative, than what will be outcome if I will set minimum troops for colony to 4, and at the same time I will make ridiculusly big demand on colony size to start producing troops (so big that there is no planet which could fufile them)? As minimum troops is overruling colony size demand, does it mean I can use it to actually create maximum number of troops?

Thank You for Your answers from advance!

[Tampa_Gamer]

Appreciate all the questions/information being answered.

Can we have some information as to what modding changes are made? I know the next expansion after this one was slotted to concentrate on modding love, but there were also some references to some changes for this one. I hope at the very least that any file placed in the theme folder will now override its corresponding default files. This would avoid us having to mod a combination of our custom theme as well as default files even for minor graphic replacements and leave the default files "pure" to avoid problems/conflicts with with future updates/patches.

[Xmudder]

If an Empire wants a certain resource, can the "pirate" factions build mining bases to harvest and sell, or do they buy and sell, or do they steal from A and sell to B?
Can a normal empire raid it's neighbors for resources they need?

[Ranbir]

I have a question; how frequent are pirate to regular empire transitions?

I like that they can end up becoming empires but is it a naturally end point or only if a lot of stars align? In the case of AI, what determines if they will go for that transition?

[Cauldyth]

Previously, Erik has said that it's a difficult process. I wouldn't expect to see it happen every often, particularly for AI players.

[Tyrador]

Erik, will the population policy in Shadows apply for the each race?

So that for example i would like to enslave only attuks, but not all other races?

Thank you

[ASHBERY76]

ORIGINAL: Tyrador

Erik, will the population policy in Shadows apply for the each race?

So that for example i would like to enslave only attuks, but not all other races?

Thank you

Hope so but I doubt it.A list of undocumented improvements would be nice.

[jpwrunyan]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

A view of the updated troop screen, which now supports multi-select and more sortable options and filters for easy troop management.

I'm so... happy! <sniff>

But please, answer Tyrador's question about race policy.

[republicofpepsi]

I know it is annoying to ask, but I can't help myself. Are we still looking towards an April release date? If its not April, is it too late to apply to be in the Beta?

[Hetulik]

Hi Eric,
I'm interested to know a bit more about the new 'comprehensive difficulty settings' that will be coming as part of Shadows.

Excited about the expansion.
Thanks!

[Webbco]

What with Shadows coming out soon, I'm still surprised that DW is still very much under the radar. StarDrive has just received a hands-on preview over at PC Gamer as well as TotalBiscuit doing a WTF is preview and that game was also developed by a one-man team.

For a space 4X game that seems to be deeper than StarDrive in many ways, how come DW hasn't had anywhere near the same amount of attention than that of it's contemporaries? I say this simply because Distant Worlds is a game I have played more than any other in the last 2 years or so (albeit very on-and-off!) and I think it deserves more attention.

In the previews for StarDrive, people are asking about whether it will be more like SPAZ or Endless Space, or even Sins of A Solar Empire...and all the while I'm thinking...why isn't DW getting a mention? It's just not on anyones radar and that seriously needs to change IMO.

[Tyrador]

ORIGINAL: Webbco

What with Shadows coming out soon, I'm still surprised that DW is still very much under the radar. StarDrive has just received a hands-on preview over at PC Gamer as well as TotalBiscuit doing a WTF is preview and that game was also developed by a one-man team.

For a space 4X game that seems to be deeper than StarDrive in many ways, how come DW hasn't had anywhere near the same amount of attention than that of it's contemporaries? I say this simply because Distant Worlds is a game I have played more than any other in the last 2 years or so (albeit very on-and-off!) and I think it deserves more attention.

In the previews for StarDrive, people are asking about whether it will be more like SPAZ or Endless Space, or even Sins of A Solar Empire...and all the while I'm thinking...why isn't DW getting a mention? It's just not on anyones radar and that seriously needs to change IMO.

Yes, you have a great point!

Presentation and Marketing, just compare how this forum looks to the forum of SD. It is all about how the game is wrapped, DW needs much louder name, cover and cool 3d graphics to get to the same attention as SD. The previous must make you ave inspired with lot of cool videos and clips, like flash battles scenes with epic music, not just some screenshots. Better alien graphics as well, these aliens are too cartoon-like.

To me it is not a suprise that SD gets more attention than DW, which is a shame giving the enormous potential of the game and how easy it is to improve graphics. Hopefully Shadows will be much more polished in terms of graphics than it's predecessors, but looking at previous screenshots it seems there is no much progress.

The Devs need shock therapy, to see how much potential is wasted. They could turn this product into cash-cow easily.

[hewwo]

ORIGINAL: Tyrador

Presentation and Marketing, just compare how this forum looks to the forum of SD. It is all about how the game is wrapped, DW needs much louder name, cover and cool 3d graphics to get to the same attention as SD. The previous must make you ave inspired with lot of cool videos and clips, like flash battles scenes with epic music, not just some screenshots. Better alien graphics as well, these aliens are too cartoon-like.

Yeah, I love the game being in 2d but it should really get a face-lift GUI wise. Retro can still look great, just look at all those iOS games coming out. At first I thought the devs just didn't have the resources to do a proper interface, but then I saw the proposed ground battle interface and now I'm thinking they just have no clue what they're doing [:)]I have a couple of friends who work as designers, so I know how much work it is to get it right.

Eric: just hire someone to find a pretty GUI colour combination, a new font and some real racial art! No shame in that! Check out Armageddon Empires for a game with amazing art btw.

[republicofpepsi]

I believe Matrix or Codeforce should reach out to RockPaperShotgun.com. The audience of that site is right in the Distant Worlds target audience. The last thing I see on RPS is Distant Worlds Legends from 2011. Maybe if they had a review copy or Shadows beta it would help promote Distant Worlds as a whole.

However, to go along with that, Matrix really needs to do a "Distant Worlds Gold" because many gamers who would love the game would probably balk at buying the separate pieces even at the eventual discount price once Shadows is released. Maybe a 1 week promotion coinciding with a RPS article. Distant World Gold which could be like $50 and include up to Legends, then they can add Shadows.

[gargoil]

ORIGINAL: republicofpepsi

Matrix really needs to do a "Distant Worlds Gold" because many gamers who would love the game would probably balk at buying the separate pieces even at the eventual discount price once Shadows is released.

This^

What are you waiting for Matrix? Its long overdue.

[ASHBERY76]

Any news on the release date?

Could it be possible for the new policy txt files to be released for modders pre launch.[:)]

[PS Pita]

"What with Shadows coming out soon, I'm still surprised that DW is still very much under the radar. StarDrive has just received a hands-on preview over at PC Gamer as well as TotalBiscuit doing a WTF is preview and that game was also developed by a one-man team.

For a space 4X game that seems to be deeper than StarDrive in many ways, how come DW hasn't had anywhere near the same amount of attention than that of it's contemporaries? I say this simply because Distant Worlds is a game I have played more than any other in the last 2 years or so (albeit very on-and-off!) and I think it deserves more attention.

In the previews for StarDrive, people are asking about whether it will be more like SPAZ or Endless Space, or even Sins of A Solar Empire...and all the while I'm thinking...why isn't DW getting a mention? It's just not on anyones radar and that seriously needs to change IMO."




I bought the beta few weeks ago for StarDrive and I have been playing it. I've got to say it doesn't have nearly the depth or scale that Distant worlds does. Deeper yes in many ways. StarDrive seems
more like a streamlined 4x space game. I could see why some would ask if it is going to be like Sins of a solar empire. The diplomacy, trade and planet resources are especially lacking, but so isn't everything else in SD that is important to a 4x game. Its main selling feature is the ship building which I don't care much for in this type of game

anyway. So for hard core 4x games StarDrive has nothing over Distant worlds and I can't wait for Shadows.

[Webbco]

As someone said previously, Matrix and Codeforce are barely tapping into potential sales with this one - maybe not not the proverbial gold mine, but clearly these games have a substantial niche in the market if the attention on Sins, Endless Space and StarDrive are anything to go by. Maybe Matrix needs to consider boosting its PR...or maybe they and Code Force have plenty of money to spare.

I just don't like seeing my current favourite strategy game ignored by mainstream sites when other single-person developers with games of a similar ilk are getting attention...it makes no sense to me.

[garfield666]

this game seems to be seriously mistreated by the publisher. not only it is virtually unknown (i love 4x games, i own lots of 4x games, yet i found out about distant worlds about a month ago browsing stardrive or paradox forums, can't remember) but it has terrible pricing. i mean come on, 70 pounds for digital edition? thats ridiculous. ok comparing to stardrive this game is much deeper and better (although stardrive has much better combat and shipbuilding) but it also costs three times more. you cannot really expect average gamer to a. find out about this game and b. actually buy it with publishing strategy like that. to be honest even i, with all my love for good strategy, wouldn't buy it for this price. thanks to larry monte's let's play on youtube i will when shadows comes out (supposedly there's going to be a 33% off promo), but this is a serious breach of my spending policy and will leave a sour taste in my mouth.

the publisher should strike a deal with steam or gamersgate or whatever, and unleash this brilliant game on the masses. looks like it really deserves it.

[Buio]

Distant Worlds is a niche game, like most other Matrix titles. It's Deep and complex without flashy 3D graphics. Not always easy to make such a game sell to the more mainstream crowd.

Steam and other digital distributors take a hefty tax to sell games (I'd guess about 30% at Steam). It might fit many games economically, but not all. Would they sell so much more in numbers that it would cover the lower revenues? Although a lot points to Steam being worth the risk, f.e. some successful indie games.

Higher price is also common with games aimed at smaller markets. They have to keep the price high to get enough income from the title in other ways than sales/low price. For example flight simulators like the ones at DCS and ROF, and other war games like the ones Battlefront publish.

I bought the game one week before there was a sale with much lower prices. Sure I was bummed about that for a while, but in the end I found it worth the money anyway.